"I can't imagine a scenario where he would be a Jacksonville Jaguar," Caldwell said.

If he can't be a Jaguar, what can Tebow be?

Maybe a spokesman for TiVo and Jockey and Nike. When it comes to football, he might become an Argonaut or Blue Bomber in the Canadian Football League. But his NFL prospects now look bleaker than JaMarcus Russell's.

When he got out of Denver, the Jaguars and New York Jets were the only teams who had any interest. The year in New York didn't exactly enhance Tebow's resume. So what's left?

Ideally, he would go to a team with an established starter. He would work non-stop on passing mechanics. After two or three or 12 years, Tebow might develop into a viable pro quarterback.

NFL sidelines are lined with such QB projects. Few of them can say they led a team to the AFC championship game. If Charlie Whitehurst and Rusty Smith can get backup jobs, why can't Tebow?

Because they are Charlie Whitehurst and Rusty Smith. Radio hosts didn't spend Friday mornings pondering if there's a conspiracy against them.

Today, the lightning bolt that beat Pittsburgh last year seems like a fairy tale. No matter, we are still a nation largely addicted to Tebow.

Millions love to love him. Millions love to hate him. Tebow brought it on himself to some degree.

He's never gone out of his way to court media coverage, much less date Eva Longoria. But he wrote a book, and starring in a pro-life Super Bowl commercial was polarizing.

That touchy issue aside, I never got why people so resented such a clean-living prince of a young man. But they did, and the cultural divide made Tebow perfect cannon fodder for today's media machine.

ESPN certainly fell head over heels. A Tebow angle was tied to every story on SportsCenter. He was the ultimate fire starter for "First Take."

He stinks! He's great!

He's a fraud! He's a saint!

ESPN president John Skipper admitted two months ago the network went overboard. But there was a simple reason why.

Ratings.

Tebow was can't-miss, even when he missed 90 percent of his passes before staging last-minute miracles. All that did was stoke the next morning's talk shows, where guys in tinfoil hats pondered whether a conspiracy is helping determine the depth chart.

And to think ESPN reported three weeks ago that Tebow signing with the Jaguars was a "virtual certainty." The only certainty is when the Jags' next backup QB arrives, there won't be 200 reporters, 36 TV cameras and 12 satellite trucks in attendance.

Tebow's New York introduction was the biggest press conference in Jets history. Bigger than when Joe Namath hit town and reshaped pro football.

That was in 1965, long before Tebow was even a gleam in Skip Bayless's eye. Everything is magnified these days, and Tebow's opening act just set the stage for the greatest NFL circus on Earth.

It wasn't all his fault. Tebow didn't know his mere presence would turn Mark Sanchez into a complete clown. He didn't force Ryan to keep stepping in elephant poop. And he sure didn't want his every move to become a tabloid headline.

But he'll leave New York as the biggest distraction in football. Fans and media love such things, but we don't have to live with them.

Teams do, and now Tebow has to find one. I hope he does, just to keep the debate going.